TURKISH LANGUAGE AND

ITS PLACE AMONG WORLD LANGUAGES

Ass. Prof. Dr. Perihan YALCIN*

There are many descriptions of language. It is started that "Language is a system of in-
dicators showing concepts" (Saussure, 1976). "Language is a means of communication bet-
ween humans" (Roucek, 1968). "Language is a social system that provides understanding
among individuals" (Dilaqar, 1968). "Language is a very developed and multi-sided system,
which takes advantage of joint elements and rules in a society, from the points of meaning and
sound to express thoughts, feelings and desires" (Aksan, 1977). "Language is a natural
means, which provides understanding among humans, has it own rules and is a living creation
developed within the framework of these rules, a system of secret pact, the foundation of
which was laid down at an unknown date, and a social institution woven with sounds." (Ergin,
1972).
It is possible to increase the number of descriptions mentioned above. Whatever the
description may be, language which belongs to society, is the most important element of be-
ing a nation. Since the language of each nation carries characteristics of its own culture, it is
considered one of the basic stones that gives its own culture to individuals and generations,
and is a bridge between ears. According to the German philosopher Humbolt, language is the
mirror of thought, and in its broader meaning it is our inner ego, (personality) and the foun-
dation of national existence. Language establisher relations within society and social groups,
and strengthens unity and togetherness. Consequently, the most important aim of language is
to establish communication among thc individuals in society in the most correct, most sound,
most dependable means, which will facilitate understanding. Language is an institution which
cannot be considered separate from humans and society, and it is related to science, technic,
art and all other fields.
It is difficult to give the correct number of languages spoken at present in the world:
however, it is known an average of 3000-3500 languages are spoken. (Aksan, 1977 page 101).
However, new languages have been determined in various parts of the world and the above
number has been increased to 5800, together with dialects. (Gencan, 1979, page 11).
- ~ -

" G.u. Gnzi Egitirn Fakiiltesi Ogrcti~niJyesi

30 Dil De,gi.ri
 Scientific work on languages was accelerated in the late XIXth Century and early XXth
Century Linguistics has shed light on all the fields of science. Linguists, who studied the
origins of language, tried to find similarities among languages, although they are quite dif-
ferent from each other, and they formed the family of languages.
The closeness and similarities among the languages are grouped according to two
points:
1. Morphological
2. Geneological
According to information obtained up to now, languages are divided into three groups
from the point of form: (Gencan, 1979 page 12).
a. Monosyllabic Languages
The languages under this category contain words with single syllables. There is no con-
jugation form of the words. In such languages, the meaning attributed by conjugation is un-
derstood either by another word or the order of the words. In order to separate words, it is
necessary to have a strong accent on words which look alike. Chinese, Vietnamese, Tibetian,
and some African languages are among the monosyllabic languages.
b. Flexiomal Languages
During conjugation the root, and especially the vowel in the root changes. Arabic is a
good example of this.
German and Roman languages are also under this category.
c. Agglutinative Languages
There are single and multi syllable words, roots and suffixes in languages under this
category. By using suffixes, new words can be formed and conjugational forms can be made.
During these additions, the roots never change. Turkish and Hungarian are in this category.
Turkish is in this group of languages, since the roots do not change, and the last additions
are made for derivation and conjugation.
Turkish has a very possible expression since it is an agglutinative language, suffixes are
varied, and new words can be formed by attributing different missions to many suffixes.
The Turkish language has the facility for derivation because it is agglutinative. The re-
gularity of conjugations, to see the root and suffix at one glance, and the harmony of vowels
facilitate learning the language.
Western academics, who studied the structure of the Turkish language, praise the un-
failing rules in the language. M. Miiller says the following: "Even if there is no desire to speak
or write Turkish, it is a real pleasure to read Turkish grammar. The skilful style, the syllogism
prevailant in all conjugations, and the transparency seen in the constructions (derivations)
make one feel the excellent power of human intelligence," (Gencan, 1979, p. 31)
Dil Dergisi 31
 The well known Turcologist, J. Deny stated the following for the Turkish language: "One
may think that this language has come out of discussions at a supreme scientific academia.
This language is, at the same time, full of harmonious metaphors and similes, it is an ex-
pressive language. Onomatopese, which are used frequently, alliterations in words and in-
terwections give the subject harmony and importance to this language (J. Deny, translated by
Ali Ulvi Elove, 1941, p. 111-IV)." As is seen, the Turkish language suprises foreign linguists
for its capabilitiy of superior derivations.
2. Languages from the Point of view of Families
Languages, which are close to each other, are relatives which come from the same
families. These languages form a family. The world languages have different language
families. A language family is the name given to a group of languages, formed by languages
separated from the main language by way of development and change. It is difficult to give
a definite number of language families in the world. The main language families are listed
below:
A. Indo-European Language Family
All of the European languages, except Finnish and Hungarian and Farsi and many lan-
guages in India among Asian languages, come under this family. This family of languages is
divided into two groups, on European branch and the other Asian. The European branch is
divided into German languages (German, Flemmish, English and Scandinavian), Roman
languages Latin, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Romanian). Slavic languages in-
clude Russian, Bulgarian and Serbian. Indo-Iranian languages are included in the Asiatic
branch.
The main languages in this family are Farsi, Armenian and Sanskrit.
The relations, which indicate the presence of the Indo-European language family are
vowel systems, some vowel rules, some forms, formation characteristics, and the composition
of words.
B. Semitic Languages
Arabic, and Hebrew come under this family
C. Bantu Language Family
Bantu languages spoken in Central and South Africa are included in this family.
D. Chinese-Tibetian Language Family
The most important in this family are Chinese and Japanese. The Tibetian language also
comes under this family.
E. Ural-Altaic Language Group
Turkish comes under the Ural-Altaic group. The closeness seen in Indo-European lan-
guages cannot be observed in languages that come under this group. The closeness between
32 Dil Dergisi
these come from the structure unity, rather than the same family. For that reason, this group
of languages is not called a language family, but a language group. The group is divided into
two branches:
a. Ural branch (Finnish, Hungarian, Uygur language)
b. Altai branch (Turkish and Mogol Language)
Since the Ural-Altaic language theory is not in a proven position, there are some linguists
who do not accept it. There are also some views which base the relation in the Altaic language
group directly an an exchange of words and cultures.
A history of the Turkish Language and Its Wealth.
The Turkish language is one of the oldest languages in the world. Throughout history it
developed and changed. According to Gencan there are three important periods in the history
of the Turkish language. (Gencen, 1979, p. 27)
I. Turkish before Islam
This is a period when foreign words were very few, and it was a beautiful and rich poetic
language. Orkhun inscriptions, old Uygur texts and Divan-u Lugat-it Turk are from these
periods.
11. Turlush after Islam
This period covers the XIth-XVth Centuries. In the first works of this period, which carry
the influence of Islamic culture, it is mainly the characteristics of old Turkish which are
seen.
Between the XI-XI11 Centuries there were valuable works of art which were mainly
Kutadgu Bilik, Divan-I Lugat-it Turk, Atabetu'l Hakaylk.
Despite efforts exerted, it has not been possible to save the Turkish language from thc
effects of foreign languages. From century to century, the appearance of foreign words and
rules increased. This is most noticeable in the XVth century During the XVIIth and XVIIIth
centuries, although no new words were derivated, many foreign words and prepositional
phrases were used.
1II.Present Day Turkish
During this period there was a trend to simplify the language. From the middle of the
XIXth Century, Turkish intellectuals became aware of the damage done to the Turkish lan-
guage by foreign words and rules and wanted to discard those words and rules and thus save
Turkish from the influence of such words.
During the Republican Era national language consciousness started to spread among in-
tellectuals. As a result of this tendency, in 1928 a "Language Committee" was established
upon Ataturk's wishes, and with the proposal made by the same Committee, the Turkish
Grand National Assembly passed the law on the use of the Latin Alphabet on 1st November
1928. Ataturk, who wished that Turkish should be a national language, with the character-
istics of a language of science set up the "Turkish Language Study Association" in 1923. The
goal of the Association was to draw a line of development suitable to the structure and char-
acteristics of the Turkish Language to emphasize the richness and beauty of Turkish lan-
Dil Dergisi 33
guage, so that it would be more valued among other languages; and in order to do this, it was
to conduct an in-depth research and study.
The Turkish Language Study Association prepared a program and continued its activities
within this program. Anthologies, to have Turkish equivalents of terns the preparation of
comparative grammar and dictionaries, etc. were included in this program. The following was
the information obtained as a result of work conducted:
- The number of roots and suffixes are more that it was thought

- Our language is very productive from the points of derivation and putting together.
Consequently, the Turk~shlanguage 1s a very rich language. It is necessary to know that
thc r~chnessot a language does not depend on the number of words. In fact, the real richness
chdrlges accord~ngto the power of expression, rather than the number of words.
Onc of the characteristics of our language that provides power of expression is as men-
tioncrl earlier, that it takes advantage of possibilities offered by its being agglutinative and
thus new words are created, and another characteristic is frequent uniting and modifications
on a large scale taking advantage of nature.
"Thc Ataciirk Culture, Language and history Supreme Association which was established
in I083 has \ ~ , ~ r kscientific
xi work in this filled, too. The objective of this organization is to
preseyve Atalurk's way of thinking. Atatiirk's principles and reforms and also, Turkish cul-
turt.."

BIBLIY OGRAFYA
Aksan, Dogan, "Her Yonuyle Dil, Ann Cizgileriyle Dilbilirn" T D K . Yay. Ankara,
1979.
Uanguoklu, Tahsin "Turk~eninGrameri" Edebiyat Fakiiltesi Baslmevi, 1974, Is-
tanbul.
Bazin, Louis "Introduction 6 I'Etude Pratique de La Langue T~irgue".Librairie
d'Amkrique et d'orient, Maisonneure, Paris, 1978.
Deny, Jean. "Gramrizaire rle In Langue Tiwque" Editions Ernest Leroux, Bibliothkque
de I'Ecolc des Langues orientales Vivantes. Paris, 1921.
Dilaqar, A. "Dil Diller ve Dilcilik" International Edition, Ank., 1968.
Ergin, Muharrem. "Turk Dilbilgisi" Ed. Fak. Yay. Istanbul, 1972.
Gencan, Tahir Nejat. "Dilbilgisi" TDK Yay. Ankara, 1979.
Godel, Robert. "Grammaire Turque" Librairie Oriental, GCnkve, 1945.
Korkmaz, Zeynep. "Cumhuriyet Diineminde Turk Dili" Ankara, 1974.
Meillet, A. - Cohen M. "Les Lnngi~esdu Morzcle" Paris 1952.
Morer, Alfred. "Gran7r?laire de la Langue Turque" Mimeray, Ofset Matbaac~lik,Is-
tanbul, 1975.
Saussure, F. de. ''Cour.~de Lirzgrlistique GCtzCrr~le" Paris 19 15.
Tiirk Dili Dergisi. "Tiirk Ilili ve Yrizrrrrr Ozel SLEXISI
Ankara, 1973.
"

Tiirk Diinyas~El Kitab~"Turk Ki1ltiii.u Am?. Erl.st. " Ankara, 1976.

Vardar, Berke. "Dilbilirn, Teti~elKnvrarn ve ilkeler" Ankara, 1982.